


to grow up in blood and sacrifice

by geminisfolklore



Category: The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV), The Vampire Diaries - L. J. Smith, Vampire Diaries
Genre: Elena has a sister but she doesn't know about her, F/F, F/M, John was a good yet bad dad, emerald is kind of moody and sad and angry and also HOT, hello that is all, idk who the relationships are yet, vampire hunter goes to mystic falls
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:35:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28544160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geminisfolklore/pseuds/geminisfolklore
Summary: “Emerald, sweetie,” Drax said, pulling her out of her thoughts. She looked over. “Promise me you won’t do anything you’ll regret.”“I’m a Gilbert, Drax,” Emerald said, standing up, her face set into a hard line. “Everything I do is something I’ll regret.”--[OC-Centric] Emerald Gilbert has always known three things. One: vampires are bad and you should kill them. Two: her father is the only person that she can trust with her whole heart. Three: she's not allowed to meet her cousins because John said so. However, when John dies, Emerald finds herself starting to question all three of these things.
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

* * *

_ Three Months Ago - A Home in Alexandria, Virginia _

* * *

Looking back at it now, the weather had been fitting for the day. The raven-haired girl remembered how much she’d hated the rain that had been washing through her small town. Living right outside of Alexandria meant that she was used to bad weather - but not really towards the beginning of summer. Which is why summer was such a lovely time for her, because it meant that she could spend her days out in the sunlight, working in the woods, going for jogs, etc., instead of being cooped up in her old house by herself. But, on days like today, when it rained, the girl had no choice but to hang out inside, and turn towards the enormous book collection that her father had lined up in the house.

Books were not her favorite form of information. She preferred talking to people - getting her information from a real source always proved to be more accurate than what she could find in a book. Not to mention that the process of gaining the information was far more interesting as well. Books didn’t gain her attention as much as talking to people did - even though the girl was by no means a people person. Though, she supposed, she was a people person - so long as the people weren’t bloodsucking monsters.

Vampires had been in existence for over a thousand years, and she was no stranger to them. Her own father had trained her to hunt them. From the young age of five, she was taught how to find them in a crowd, what hurt them, and how to get information from them. Then, when she was eight, she began actually training. Her father said she was a natural, and the older she got, the more evident that was. It was like the weapons - stakes, vervains, crossbows, whatever you may think of - were just an extension of who she was. She felt the most sure of herself when she was training, or even actually hunting. She felt exhilarated. 

She felt powerful.

She did not feel the same way with a book in her hands, but the weather was not going to allow her to spend the day training, so she might as well do something useful. She settled into her chair by the window, a book on the folklore of vampires resting daintily on her lap. For the fifth time that day, she checked her phone. There were still no new messages from her dad. He hadn’t called her in two days, and she was starting to get worried. He hadn’t gone away for anything too dangerous, but with their line of work, you never knew. Still, her dad was smart. She was sure he was fine. He was just visiting his niece and nephew anyways. (Her cousins, she supposed, though they had never met.)

Sighing loudly, the raven-haired beauty tossed her phone onto the table next to her and picked up the book that had been sitting in her lap. She flipped to where she’d been reading last - marked by a dog ear on the top corner - and scanned her eyes over the text. Why was it so small? It made absolutely no sense to have text this small in a book. She was going to get a headache just from staring at the text, but she didn’t really have a choice. So, she squinted at the micro-text, and began reading.

_ There have been records of where vampires originated - back in the New World, far before the colonization of what modern day refers to as America. It is unknown if this is fact or fiction, but there have been records of an ‘original’ family - the first known vampires. They are said to be the originators of all vampiric activity, as well as possibly having connections to witchcraft and lycanthropy (though the latter is still an unconfirmed myth as well). _

The girl couldn’t help but roll her eyes, shaking her head and glancing over at the bookshelves in her home once more. This was an older text, given that it thought werewolves were still a myth. She had had her first run in with werewolves about two years ago, and they were as real as one could imagine. Of course, they were nothing like modern showings - and in many ways they were better than the vampires the girl surrounded herself with knowledge about. She even made alliances with a few werewolves ever since she learned about them. Werewolves (and witches) were just far safer and more trustworthy than vampires. Vampires would kill for no reason - they were monsters. Witches protected nature. Werewolves would often chain themselves up or roam the woods. They didn’t attempt to hurt anyone. Not like vampires did. 

As far as she was concerned, there was no such thing as a  _ good _ vampire. Every bloodsucker that she had met had only served to hurt her, and that included the woman who gave birth to her. She had no idea where her mother was now, but she didn’t care. As far as she was concerned, her mother was no longer her family the day she made the choice to walk out on her and her father. When the girl was a toddler and her mother became a vampire, that had only cemented her thoughts. She had no care for vampires, and her mother was no exception. She might have been one of the worst, in all actuality.

Deep in her thoughts, she almost didn’t hear the knock on the door. It echoed in her mind for a moment, before she registered that there was someone at  _ her _ door. This instantly put the young girl at edge. People didn’t visit her, and her father certainly wouldn’t have knocked. Who could that be? The raven-haired girl stood up, the book that was on her lap falling to the floor (long-forgotten by now). She grabbed a wooden stake from one of the many hiding places around the house, before creeping over to the door. Then slowly, keeping herself positioned well enough to take her aim, she got ready to strike, in case someone was here to hurt her. But, when she opened the door, she was met face to face not with an enemy, but rather someone she considered a friend.

“Drax?” she said, the hand that was holding the stake falling down to her side. “What are you doing here?”

Drax was a family friend. Her dad and him had been close, so growing up, he had always been around. In many ways, he was like an uncle to the girl, though she never called him that. Drax did mean a lot to her though. He was a warlock, and one that she found herself allying with. He protected her, gave her information, and he did the same with her father. Still, none of that explained what he was doing here today - especially with her dad not home. Was there a vampire situation that she had to handle? Could she do that by herself?

“Buttercup,” Drax said, thoughtfully, and she frowned. It was a childhood nickname, and certainly not one he called her anymore. “We should go sit down. I...I just came from Mystic Falls.”

The girl frowned even more. She knew the town well as the residence of where her family most commonly lived, although it was family that she only knew about, never met. Family who certainly had no idea she existed either. It was where her father was now, visiting. Then, realization hit her. No phone calls,  _ buttercup _ . Something was wrong.

“Is he hurt?” she asked, and her voice broke. She liked to pride herself on being strong, but her father was the one person on this earth who she was unconditionally attached too. If he was hurt, she had to go save him.

“We really should go sit down,” Drax said, before walking into the house.

The next thirty minutes were the toughest of the young girl’s life. Looking back on it, she might have wished she could regain some of her strength - some of her dignity. But, as Drax explained to her the story of how her father had died, she had lost it. He was her only real family, given that no one else knew about her. He had taught her everything. Where was she to go now? Her father’s life had been taken, and she needed to find something to do.

“I just don’t understand. Why would he sacrifice his life for them? As far as I knew, he barely liked them.”

“There’s something you should know. I told him that I wouldn’t tell you, but I think you deserve to know, now that he’s gone.”

“What do you mean?”

“The girl - the one he died for?” Drax sighed. “She’s your sister, actually. His oldest.”

Everything inside of her broke that day. Maybe most people would be happy to learn that they had a sister after their father had died. But, not her. All the girl could think about was how her father sacrificed his life for her - how he had willingly died to save her life. As far as she was concerned, this was a betrayal.

What made her sister so special that her father would give up his own life without even so much as calling his other daughter back home?

Was she really so much of a disappointment? She’d always wondered, given that she wasn’t allowed to meet the family.

How was her sister more important to her? Why did she get to live, and not her father?

It was that day that the girl decided she would go to Mystic Falls. She would meet her sister, and she would meet her family. But, not for the reasons you’d think. She didn’t want a family. She wanted revenge. Her sister and her involvement with vampires had caused her father to forsake her - to die. She wouldn’t let someone who barely cared about her father to get away with that.

No.

“Emerald, sweetie,” Drax said, pulling her out of her thoughts. She looked over. “Promise me you won’t do anything you’ll regret.”

“I’m a Gilbert, Drax,” Emerald said, standing up, her face set into a hard line. “Everything I do is something I’ll regret.” 

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

_The Gilbert Residence_

The light of the day beat down rather harshly on Elena Gilbert's face. If she had been sleeping, she probably would have been waken up by it. However, she wasn't sleeping. She didn't do much of that anymore. The nights were too hard - the house too empty, even with Alaric staying here. The silence just reminded her of everything she had lost. Of everyone that was no longer around. Her aunt. John.

Stefan.

Elena shook her head, quickly standing up and marching over to the window. It was only nine in the morning, but she needed to get up - to get moving. It didn't matter that it was summer. It didn't matter that today was...today. She just needed to get moving, to find small ways to distract herself from all the bad things that were going on in her life. To distract herself from all the things that she couldn't change.

Her phone rang, and she took one glance at the caller ID. The second she saw who it was, she knew what was going on. Hitting answer, Elena raised the phone to her ear. "Late again?"

"He was supposed to be here a half hour ago, Elena. I can't keep covering for him." Matt said from the other line.

"He's on his way. Buy him fifteen minutes."

She hung up the phone, before walking through the bathroom to Jeremy's room. He was sound asleep in his bed, and for a moment, Elena didn't want to wake him up. At least he was able to sleep, and she should let him if that were the case. They'd both been through so much. They'd both lost so much. Still, if she didn't wake him up now, he'd get fired. She was afraid that minor setback might cause him to lose himself. To relapse back to last year.

She swung the curtains open, and luckily, the sun was so bright, that Jeremy groaned from his place on the bed. "Early," he groaned, rolling over. "Bad."

"It's not that early, Jere." Elena said, making her way over to his bed, grabbing the covers and yanking them off of him. She took a second, glancing at him, and then sighed a bit. "Your late. Matt just called."

"Maybe he'll fire me."

"Aiming high, I see."

Jeremy smiled a bit, before nodding some. He started to get up, and Elena was glad. They would get back to normal soon. Everything was going to be totally fine. She was sure of it.

An hour later, Jeremy was at work, Elena was showered, and coffee was brewing. She'd heard Alaric stirring in the next room, and she figured that the smell of coffee was the cause. Good. They all needed to start getting back into the world of the normal. It would be good for them.

She heard a large rustling noise come from the other end of the phone call that she was on, and she frowned. "Caroline? What are you doing?"

"Shopping for the party you're trying to bail out on." Caroline said, and Elena could hear the slight annoyance in her tone. She knew that Caroline didn't mean anything bad by it - how could she? Her friend just wanted Elena to loosen up, and try to have fun since she'd spent all summer doing the exact opposite. The problem, however, was that Elena didn't want to have a party. It didn't feel right.

Which, Elena felt the need to remind Caroline about as she headed downstairs. "I never said yes in the first place."

"You were never going to, which is why I planned it anyways." Caroline pointed out. Elena knew she was right. Elena didn't want a party today. It wouldn't be good for her, or for anyone, really. She wasn't in a partying mood. Still, Caroline had already planned it, so Elena sincerely doubted that she could drop out of the party a few hours before it was set to start - even if she had never said yes in the first place.

"Oh! And my mom wants you to call her. There was an animal attack in Memphis. Third one this week, I think."

Elena's heart pounded a bit at the sound of that. Stefan. It had to be Stefan. Or, maybe it was some other vampire - there was no real way of knowing the answer to all of that. Still, she knew it was worth checking out. Stefan had been gone for almost three months, and Elena hadn't given up hope yet. She would find her boyfriend, and bring him home. It was her fault that he'd been put in this position anyways. If Klaus hadn't come after her… Well, it was best not to think on that too much.

"I'll call her. Tell her I said thank you."

"Tell her yourself. I've got a party to plan. Which you are coming to."

Elena was silent for a moment before letting out a large sigh. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Alaric entering the kitchen. "Fine, but keep it small. Please?"

"Wear something pretty!"

And the line went dead. Elena groaned, hanging up the phone and setting it on the counter. Of course Caroline wasn't going to make tonight small. That had been wishful thinking, given that it was Caroline of all people. Still, Elena knew that not showing up to the party would be worse than actually showing up, so she would brave it. If only to make her friends feel better, anyways. It would be good for all of them to live a slightly normal life, even if it was just for one night.

"Was that Stefan news?" Alaric asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee from the pot that Elena had just brewed.

She smiled softly, nodding a bit. "I think so. It might be more Klaus victims." Elena said, taking a sip of her own coffee. She had to believe that Stefan was still with Klaus, because the alternative was worse. She sighed some. "Which is easier to believe, considering what the alternative is."

Alaric nodded. "Keep me updated."

"Of course."

Elena smiled at him for a moment. She was really glad to have him here. He might not have been blood, but he had become family far quicker than Elena thought he would. Dating Jenna had made them close, bonding over vampires had done even more wonders for their friendship. But everything that had happened at the end of last year had really cemented Alaric's place in her life. She and Jeremy didn't have a lot of family, so this was the one good thing that they got. Alaric in their life felt a little bit like adult supervision, even if they were all just taking care of one another. It might not be traditional, but at least it worked.

"Hey, Elena?"

"Yeah?"

"Happy Birthday."

* * *

_Woods Outside of Mystic Falls_

It had been a clean kill, thankfully. Emerald's stake went right into the vampire's heart, and right back out, letting him fall to the ground. He was an older guy - not as young as most vampires that Emerald had made contact with. He may have been a newer vampire, too, if Emerald had guessed right, thanks to his strength and detailing. He had been an easy kill - one that she had done in less than ten minutes. Most skilled vampires took longer than that, though they still weren't much of a match for Emerald Gilbert.

Emerald looked over his body, taking just a few seconds to give him the glance over. He was dead - she could already see the veins creeping their way through his face. Good. He wasn't the first vampire that Emerald had met in her travel towards Mystic Falls. The journey had taken longer than planned, of course, but that was because Emerald was taking her time. She told herself again and again that if she approached the situation after cooling off, maybe she wouldn't be so angry. But every time she thought about her father dying for her older sister, without giving Emerald so much as a goodbye… Well, let's just say Emerald had to kill vampires to take out her frustrations.

Besides, she didn't want to be entering an infested town. If she took down vampires one by one on the outskirts, it would be easier for her to get into town, do what she needed to do, and get out. She could even do it all without being detected by the vampires closest to her sister. That was the plan, anyways. But, Emerald had a tendency for not having the most well-thought-out plans. She didn't fully understand execution - not in the truest form, anyways. She always acted before thinking. It was one of her many downfalls, not that she would say any of that out loud.

"Would you look at that? We have our own personal case of Buffy in town." She heard a voice say, and she turned around to meet it. The guy was older than her, but not by much. (At least, not physically. Judging by the daylight ring on his finger, she would believe him to be much older than that.) She narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked at him. How had she not heard him? Emerald was pretty good at hearing things most humans couldn't. You had to, if you wanted to catch a vampire. And, yet, this guy had managed to sneak up on her. The thought unnerved her.

"Actually, there's quite a bit of difference between me and her. Though, I suspect all humans look the same to leeches like you?" Emerald asked, her fingers tightening around the stake. It would feel good to take this one down. She could already sense he was older, and that he would put up a fight. The snarky attitude would be a bonus in his undoing. Emerald needed something like this to perk her spirits back up.

The darker-haired man chuckled as he looked her over, before raising an eyebrow. "That's right. It's like you're a walking bag of chips, actually."

Emerald's eyes narrowed, and she put herself at a stance. "Then why don't you come rip me open?"

"And risk getting caught by that?" The man chuckled, throwing a look at her hand. "I don't think so. I know a hunter when I see one, and I have no intentions in making you angry. I quite enjoy my life here in this town."

That was unexpected. Emerald wasn't used to vampires backing down so quickly. Typically, if a vampire knew there was a hunter around, they sought to end her before she could end them (though it had never worked out for them in the end). This was a new form of distraction, maybe? He thought that if he confused her, he would throw her off her game? Well, Emerald wasn't going to be so stupid. She was smart, and she was determined to see all of her plans through, even if they weren't always the smartest of plans.

"And I have no intentions in letting you live. So, why don't we just carry on with it?"

The way he kept chuckling after every thing she said was really starting to infuriate Emerald. In fact, she was starting to wish she could just walk over and stab him now - risk her own life, just to make him shut up. "See, I was going to let you go. That was always the plan. However, now you've pissed me off. So, I think we will see how you like having a stake shoved in your heart."

Emerald raised an eyebrow as she looked at him. "Oh? Are you playing me in this little skit?"

"You have quite the mouth."

"It runs in my blood."

"And what blood would that be, little girl?" the vampire said, walking up to her. His eyes were taking her in in what could only be considered a predatory motion. If Emerald didn't act fast, she was going to be a meal. But, she had been in situations like this before, and she had every intention of living past this day. She needed to tie up her loose ends in Mystic Falls. It had to be done.

"Gilbert," Emerald seethed, pushing the stake up as quickly as possible. She didn't go for the heart, though. He would have expected that, and that was where he would try to block. Not that it would have mattered though, because apparently she had caught the vampire by surprise. She was able to get a clean shot to his side, causing him to cry out in pain. Emerald inhaled sharply, breaking the steak in half, before sprinting off, away from him.

That had been a close call. She had no idea who that man was, but he was starting to get to the point of killing her. Emerald couldn't allow for things to become that close of a call again. She refused. She needed to get into Mystic Falls, do her business, and leave. She wouldn't let herself be a victim to the woes of this town.

Mystic Falls would _not_ be the death of her.


	3. Chapter 3

_ Timeskip - The Salvatore Boarding House _

Elena had made her way to the Salvatore House that day as soon as she could. She had to tell Damon about the new lead she had on Stefan. They were working on the case together, and for very obvious reasons. So, when she had new leads, she liked to tell him. He would have Andie look into them, see if they could pinpoint if it was Stefan. They were usually dead-ends, according to Damon, but Elena still held out hope to every single one that she got. 

“Damon!” Elena called out as she walked into the Salvatore House. “Sheriff Forbes gave us another location to check! Memphis, Tennessee!” 

She didn’t get a reply, and she frowned. He was here - she saw his car sitting out in front. The girl made her way into the house, looking around for him. Maybe he was just ignoring her, because he didn’t want to check another location. Though, she didn’t know if that sounded like him. He wanted to find Stefan just as much as she did. She believed that.

“This could be the one! I’ll go check it myself, if you don’t want to.” Elena called out again. She didn’t get a reply this time, either, but this time she heard a distant noise. She frowned, her nose scrunching up as she did so. She followed the noise, and when she found where it led to, she gasped in surprise. Damon was standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom, a half broken wooden stake sticking out of his side. He was trying to get it out, but he wasn’t doing a very good job of it at the moment.

“Oh my God! Damon! What happened?” Elena said, rushing over to him, and looking him over for a second. Her eyes scanned for a moment, before landing on the wound again. He was having trouble getting it out, probably because of where it was stuck in, and the fact that it had been broken off.

Damon shook his head, his eyes glancing over to her as he winced slightly in pain. “It was a hunter. A...girl.” Damon said, and Elena could tell that there was something more to what he had said. She wanted to push it, but right now, she knew better than to do that. “Can you just get it out please?”

Elena nodded, and got to work. She didn’t even flinch at the sight of blood anymore, which honestly should have bothered her. Her life had turned into something so violence-filled. She had no idea how it had gotten to be so bad, but now was not the time to dwell on it. She needed to focus on getting this out of Damon’s side. “A hunter? Is that going to be a problem? I mean...what are we going to do about it?”

“I’m not sure. There’s, uh, complications.” Damon said, wincing as Elena managed to get a hold of the piece, pulling the stake out. “She told me she had Gilbert blood in her system.” 

Elena glanced up at him very quickly.  _ She told me she had Gilbert blood in her system _ . Elena dropped the piece of the wooden stake she had been holding, hearing the steady  _ clink _ of it hitting the sink. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t even really understand what Damon meant by all of this. The phrasing - Gilbert blood  _ in _ her system - seemed specific. Those words had to be used on purpose. Elena needed to get to the bottom of it. 

“What are you thinking?” Damon asked, pulling the girl out of her thoughts, her eyes landing on Damon’s carefully.

“I think I need to know what it means. We live in a supernatural world, Damon.  _ In her system _ ? There had to be a reasoning for those specific words.” Elena said, shaking her head some, her hip softly pressing against the counter as she leaned back on it. Her eyes slid from his cool blue ones to look at the wall across from her. She had a party tonight - one that she highly doubted she’d be able to get out of, even with a good reason. But, she was going to have to try, wasn’t she? 

She needed to meet this vampire hunter.

* * *

_ Timeskip - The Mystic Grill _

For the first time in the three months Emerald had been scoping out Mystic Falls, she dared to go beyond the town limits. Normally, she stuck to the woods on the outskirts of town, not wanting to alert anyone of whole she was. Still, she’d made a mistake in attacking that vampire the other day. She should have killed him when she had a chance, but she hadn’t thought about it. A year ago, she had been so proud of the weight the last name  _ Gilbert _ brought to vampires. They knew the last name signaled a lineage of vampire hunters. The man from the woods, however, seemed to know better. Which led her to believe that he might know her sister. She needed to get started on her plans in town if she wanted to risk any chance of survival now. 

And so, Emerald found herself wandering into the Mystic Grill. Sure, it was lunch time, and she was interested in eating. She had been craving any meal other than gas station foods for the last few months, so the chance to sit down and eat an actual meal was exciting to her. She made her way to a booth in the back, sliding in where she might be out of sight. It wasn’t like anyone knew her, but at least she wouldn’t be open to questioning from people. Small towns had a way of worming their way into your business, and Emerald didn’t really want to deal with something like that. 

After placing her order with the waiter - a blonde girl, who Emerald might have found cute under normal circumstances - she took her time observing the people around her. From her time spent on the outskirts of Mystic Falls, she had come to recognize a few of the key people in town. She knew who the Mayor and Sheriff were, and she also had an idea of who the vampires might be. For a while, Emerald had considered looking into the people in her sister’s life, but that had proven to be painful. It was just another reminder that Elena had gotten to grow up with a family, with friends, with  _ love _ , and Emerald had gotten abandoned. 

“Well, if it isn’t our personal Buffy,” a voice chimed, and the vampire from the woods slid into the seat across from her. Emerald’s back stiffened, and she looked over at him. They were in public, so the chances of either hurting the other were slim, but it didn’t make Emerald feel any better about this. 

“Come to eat real food instead of the souls of humans?” Emerald said, making a quick mental note of where her weapons were. The silver bracelet that was coiled around her wrist was the easiest to get to, though it wasn’t as protective as she would have liked. It did have vervain in it, though, so he’d at least be hurt by that. There was a wooden stake in her purse, but that was a little bit too flashy for The Mystic Grill - unless she wanted to cause serious attention to her place in town, which she really didn’t. So, Emerald might as well have been defenseless in this exact moment. The thought worried her just a bit. 

The boy in front of her chuckled, moving his body all the way against the wall of the booth, leaving a large space next to him. If he was trying to protect himself, he wasn’t doing a very good job of it. It would be  _ so _ easy for Emerald to just corner him there. She had to clench her fists to keep her instincts at bay. A vampire - a bloodsucking demon - was sitting across the table from her, and Emerald was pretty sure she felt her heart hammering through her chest. This was not good. “Relax, Buffy, I’m not here to hurt you. I just want to talk.”

“You people never want to talk.”

“Mmm, true. But  _ you _ people usually do.”

“Are you playing human now? Because we both know that that’s not the case. All I have to do is take this knife, cut it into my skin, and you’d go crazy.”

“But you’re not going to do that, are you?”

Emerald scoffed a bit, giving him a look. “What makes you think that?”

“Because I’m here,” called a voice. Emerald watched as a girl only a year or so older than her slid into the spot beside the vampire. The raven-haired girl recognized her in an instant. If it were possible, Emerald wanted to run out of the restaurant more than she had ten seconds ago when the vampire had slid into the seat. Because, her she was: Elena Gilbert. 

Her sister.

“Who are you?” Emerald asked, even though the words repeated over and over and over again in her mind.  _ Her sister. Her sister. Her sister. _

A bead of sweat found its way inching across her forehead for just a moment.

“Elena,” she said, and Emerald noticed the way her voice dipped. She was sweet; she was  _ too _ sweet. Emerald wondered if that would kill her one day. (Then again, she supposed it technically already  _ had _ .) “I heard you’re a Gilbert?”

“Distantly.” Emerald said, pressing her lips firmly together.

“That makes us family.”

“No,” Emerald said, shaking her head, and casting a glance down at her lap. “It doesn’t make us...anything. Family are the people you grow up, the people who you care about. Sharing blood with someone doesn’t make you family.”

Elena did appear a bit taken aback, but Emerald didn’t let that get to her. She was not going to let her sister find a way to guilt trip her into feeling like everything was alright. Emerald was stubborn, yes, but she was also practical. Emerald and Elena could have shared a face and it would have made them no more family than if they were complete strangers. Emerald wasn’t going to just adopt a new philosophy because she might have a sister out there in the world. 

“Look, I just...don’t want you to cause trouble here in town. And...I don’t know, I’ve kind of lost everything lately. I was hoping we could talk things out, figure out why you’re here, and see if we can come to a more peaceful solution than you killing my friend.”

Emerald shook her head. “No, I don’t think so.” 

She went rigid as the waitress came back, placing her food in front of her. She was no longer hungry, and the burger and fries sitting in front of her was almost revolting. Though, Damon had no issue reaching over and taking a handful of the fries. Emerald recoiled, pushing the plate even further away from her. 

“If you guys don’t leave now, I will not hesitate to grab a stake and shove it through his heart,” Emerald said, her voice low, like a growl. Her eyes carefully met Elena’s, who seemed both hard and sad at the same time. Emerald though - irritably - that they must have both gotten their eyes from their mom. That was...irritating, at best. 

“Fine,” Elena said, looking over at the boy beside her. “Damon, let’s go.”

They both stood up from the chair, but Damon didn’t follow Elena as she walked towards the front door. Instead, he hung back just long enough to slide into the seat beside Emerald. He was quick, pressing her quickly into the wall on the other side. “Let’s get one thing straight, Buffy. You  _ ever _ try to hurt me again, I will not only kill you, but I will make you the appetizer in a five course of meal of your friends an family.”

Emerald wasn’t shaken by this. She angeled her wrist, pressing the cool silver metal into Damon’s forearm. He hissed, pulling it away. “No,  _ you _ get one thing straight, vampire. I am not your average vampire hunter, and I am not leaving town until I get what I came for.”

“And what is that?”

“Revenge.” Emerald said, her eyes narrowing firmly into his.

Damon didn’t say anything at this, instead just huffing, rolling his eyes, and getting up. Emerald watched him as he disappeared out the front door, following her sister.

Only then, did she allow her entire body to tremble. 


End file.
